November 20, 2015 – It’s History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster. Today, author Clint Hill shares his eyewitness account of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination fifty-two years ago on November 22, 1963. Mr. Hill was the Secret Service agent assigned to protect Mrs. Kennedy that day, and the man seen leaping onto the back of the car after the fatal shots rang out in Dealey Plaza. His latest book is titled, Five Days in November. It’s a follow-up on his previous recollections in the #1 New York Times best-seller, Mrs. Kennedy and Me. History in Five Friday. It’s the perfect way to kick off your modern weekend… with people from the past Podcast: Download (Duration: 5:31 — 5.1MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | RSS | More

October 23, 2015 – Today we’re going to hear from Harold Holzer, one of America’s leading authorities on Abraham Lincoln’s life and the politics of the Civil War era. His book is, Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion. Mr. Holzer shows us an activist Lincoln through journalists who covered him from his start through to the night of his assassination — when one reporter ran to the box where Lincoln was shot and emerged to write the story covered with blood. Remember to subscribe to the History Author Show on iTunes, like our iHeartRadio page, or make us appointment listening on your Android device, so you don’t miss an installment of History in Five Friday. It’s the perfect way to kick off your modern weekend… with people from the past. Podcast: Download (Duration: 6:41 — 6.1MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | RSS | More

October 19, 2015 – On this episode, you’ll meet five legends — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe, and Dolley Madison — as viewed through their relationships with James Madison. Often overlooked in death as he was in life (and having the White House burned out from under him in the War of 1812 didn’t help), David O. Stewart reveals a founding father and president uniquely adept at what we today call “networking.” The book is Madison’s Gift: Five Partnerships that Built America. Just as Gen. Washington was indispensable in winning the war, so was Madison indispensable in winning the peace and setting up the first self-governing republic since Rome. David O. Stewart is also president of the Washington Independent Review of Books. His other books include: The Wilson Deception (A New Fraser and Cook Mystery). The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution. American Emperor: Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America. Additional books discussed on this episode: Podcast: Download (Duration: 49:26 — 45.3MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | RSS | More

October 16, 2015 – It’s History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster — kicking off your modern weekend, with people from the past. Today, historian David O. Stewart focuses on James Madison, Father of the Constitution and fourth president of the United States. Overlooked in death as he was in life, Madison was the indispensable man in peace as General George Washington was in the Revolutionary War. On Monday, October 19, 2015, we’ll share an all-new interview with David O. Stewart on his new book, Madison’s Gift: Five Partnerships That Built America. Don’t miss it! Additional books discussed on this episode: Podcast: Download (Duration: 5:35 — 5.1MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | RSS | More

September 18, 2015 – One of the most acclaimed political biographies of our time, Jeffrey Frank’s Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage takes you inside the strained and complex relationship of two fascinating American leaders—hailed as “top-drawer as political history” by the New York Review of Books and “one of the best books ever written about Richard Nixon” by the New Yorker.” Podcast: Download (Duration: 6:47 — 6.2MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | RSS | More

August 24, 2015 – “What is worse? A confederate con man claiming he was Lincoln’s spy throughout the Civil War, or the Union veteran who pursed his claim all the way to the Supreme Court?” That’s the central question of Jane Singer’s book, Lincoln’s Secret Spy: The Civil War Case that Changed the Future of Espionage. In it, she introduces us to William Alvin Lloyd. Con man, bigamist, charlatan, Lloyd hobbled out of the defeated Confederacy and into the capital of the newly re-United States with a claim that made people listen: The government owed him money for serving as Abraham Lincoln’s covert operative. John Wilkes Booth had shot down the Great Emancipator just a month earlier in April 1865, and couldn’t refute the story. So, armed with Lincoln’s signature on a travel pass and a skill for duping people — including no less than Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who was at the president’s side when he died — Lloyd teamed up with lawyer Enoch Totten, who’d served in the Union Army during the conflict. The story of their conspiracy to defraud the American people is brought to us by my guest, Jane Singer, and her co-author, John Stewart….